Brad Telias

NEW YORK—J. Paul Reddam had his worst nightmare the day before his colt, I’ll Have Another, was to try to make history at Belmont Park by becoming the first horse in 34 years to win the Triple Crown.

In the weeks leading up to the Belmont Stakes, Reddam’s philosophy background had been giving him the jitters. Philosophy is all about possibilities, and he kept worrying about the possibility of something going wrong.

And something did go wrong. I’ll Have Another was scratched a little more than 24 hours before Saturday’s Belmont, the last jewel he needed to capture the Crown, with a minor tendon injury.

Bramlage, like many, would really have liked to have seen I’ll Have Another win the Triple Crown on Saturday. Now he’s left hoping he’ll see another one before he dies. It’s something of a bucket list item for a veterinarian who has made his living on thoroughbred frailties.

But nobody felt worse than Reddam.

"I’ll Have Another is retired,” he said in front of a media crush at Barn 2, where the Belmont Stakes contenders are stabled. Reddam uttered the words with a shaky voice, looked down to collect himself, close to tears.

So there it was, the shocker. Not only had I’ll Have Another stubbed his toe, necessitating a disappointing scratch, but he will never race again.

It’s too late for this breeding season, so I’ll Have Another will head back to “friendly surroundings” at Hollywood Park.

The cause of the end of I’ll Have Another’s career was tendinitis of the superficial digital flexor tendon, something akin to a sprained ankle for a basketball player, Bramlage said, an acute injury that occurs during exercise.

It’s a slow-healing injury, he explained. If I’ll Have Another were to race again, he’d be benched for six months before he could train and it would be another six months before he could be exercised back into a stakes-caliber horse. That means it could be 12 months before the horse could return, and if it didn’t work out a year from now, he’d miss next breeding season, too.

The extent of his injury isn’t known yet, because of swelling, but it’s minor. If he continued to race, he could have bowed the tendon, a serious injury. That’s something like an Achilles' tendon injury for a human athlete.

Friday afternoon, I’ll Have Another walked out of the stakes barn, not limping, but sometimes pawing the ground with the foot of the injured leg. He could have raced, Bramlage said, but he’d have felt the injury by the end of the grueling, 1½-mile Belmont Stakes.

Reddam said he decided to do what was best for the horse and retire him.

I’ll Have Another had gone out on the track earlier than normal Friday morning, trying to beat the traffic jam of stakes horses that all wanted to go out at the same time (Belmont horses were allowed exclusive use of the track between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m.). He jogged a half mile, then galloped one mile in the company of former stakes winner, Lava Man.

Both trainer Doug O’Neill and Bramlage said the arrangement of the stakes barn—mandated by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board in an effort to tighten security and minimize suspicions about illegal practices—had nothing to do with the injury, although Dale Romans, who trains Dullahan, said nobody will ever know and whoever dreamed up the idea should resign immediately.

O’Neill admitted that I’ll Have Another has been quiet the past few days although his legs have been “great.”

On Thursday, he galloped well, but during the afternoon, O’Neill said the team noticed “some loss of definition in the left front leg.” In other words, it was a bit puffy.

I’ll Have Another was out on the track by 5:45 a.m., and O’Neill reported that the horse galloped well, appeared fit and was ready to roll.

That all changed very soon. “Cooling out, you could tell that the swelling was back,” he said. “At that point, I didn’t feel very good.”

He and Reddam immediately called their vet, Dr. Jim Hunt, to have a look. Dr. Hunt told him that it was the start of tendinitis, and that they should give him three to six months’ rest and start back with him.

“Obviously, he’s done so much that it was unanimous between the Reddams and my brother (Dennis) and I and everyone at the barn to retire him,” O’Neill said.

“It is a bummer, but far from tragic. It is very disappointing.”

Reddam admitted he was shocked. He made a point of saying that on Thursday afternoon, the stable had already decided to give I’ll Have Another an easy day on Friday.

“It wasn’t like he had an injury and Doug took him out for a test drive this morning... ,” Reddam said. “He had a little heat. It was gone. He was good this morning, probably because he was treated on Thursday."

Reddam said jockey Mario Gutierrez was stunned at the news and said so little, the owner wasn’t sure the young Mexican-born rider had initially understood. But in the end, Reddam said the jockey was sad for the horse.

“He expressed in the end no disappointment for him not getting a chance to run in the Belmont,” Reddam said. "He’s just glad that the horse is okay... along with the other riders’ safety, is paramount.”

Romans said he heard something was amiss with I’ll Have Another after he had trained Dullahan early Friday morning. His assistants quickly gave him the word. “When I came back here, I immediately saw an ultrasound machine, and that’s never a good sign,” he said.

Although it will allow Dullahan (now the 9-5 favorite) a better shot at winning, Romans says he’s devastated by the scratch of his top rival.

“I really wanted to compete,” he said. “This was going to be a special race, one of the biggest races of our time. It would have been special to have beaten him I don’t want to win it with an asterisk.”